Peach Mountain Observatory

Revised: June, 2004

Peach Mountain

Peach Mountain is the home of the 24” McMath Telescope and is
part of Stinchfield Woods.
Stinchfield Woods
is owned by the University of Michigan and used by several
university departments including the Astronomy Department
and the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

The circular structure on the left is the University of Michigan
Radio Telescope. It has been in operation since 1958.
The control building for the radio telescope is next to
the radio dish and holds equipment that position the telescope and
record data (it is difficult to see in this photograph -
it is partly obscured by the dish).
These operations can take place 24 hours a day even
without a human operator present.

The oval structure on the right is a
radio telescope which was put into operation in 1955, but
has not been used for many years.
The rectangular building next to the small radio telescope originally
held equipment that controlled the radio dish.
Since that time it has been used for a
variety of purposes such as research on aurora activity. It is
currently used by the Astronomy Department as a dark sky observatory
for astronomy students and by the Physics Department to conduct
measurements on night sky brightness levels.
The night sky measurements may give information on
light pollution which has been
a steadily increasing problem even in locations such as Peach Mountain.

A path is visible that leads from the small radio
telescope to a rectangular building near the
bottom of the photograph. This
building houses the Francis C. McMath Telescope.

The McMath Telescope is located 700 feet from the 26 meter radio telescope on Peach Mountain.
It is a rectangular building with a movable roof. This building does not have a dome. When the telescope
is unused, the roof is moved over the telescope protecting it from the elements. When the telescope is used,
the roof is moved out of the way allowing observations to occur.

This is the telescope now used by the University Lowbrow Astronomers. The Lowbrows have made various refinements
including the addition of a 6 inch refracting telescope which is permanently mounted to the side of the 24 inch
telescope.

The photo above shows the building housing the 24 inch McMath Telescope.
This shows the southwest corner of the building. The 24 inch telescope
is visible as a black tube sticking out above the building. The 6 inch
refractor is the small tube above the 24 inch telescope. The roof is the white
structure to the left of the building. The roof is in the open position.
When the observatory is closed, the roof is moved to the closed position so that rain cannot get into
the building.

The Comet Hale-Bopp is visible between the trees. The white disk in the
distance behind the observatory building is the University of Michigan Radio
Telescope.

This shows the north side of the observatory building. The roof is in
the closed position. Before an observing session, the roof is moved to
the open position along the railroad tracks. After an observing session
the roof is returned to the closed position.

Photo Credits

Peach Mountain from the Air—Photograph by Peter Alway during the Summer
of 2000.

Observatory Building from the South—Photograph by Mark Vincent. 28 mm
Lens, 1 minute exposure, ASA-400 Film.
Taken the Morning of March 24, 1997.